I'm excited too...
The only downside is I have bought so many cookbooks lately and I know I won't be able to resist! (Newest additions being Ani Phyo's Raw Dessert book, Vegan Fire and Spice, and Isa's Vegan Brunch)
I made the chocolate chip cookies last week, though I had to substitute a few ingredients, such as arrowroot instead of tapioca flour. They were very nice. I'll increase the volume of dry ingredients next time though, as the mixture was a bit too liquid.
I made the chocolate peanut butter pillow cookies from this cookbook and they are amazing. My family gobbled them up right away. They taste like reeses cups. They are a choc dough on the outside with a peanut butter dough in the middle. If you have this book, you have to try them!!!
"Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each."
I've made the chocolate peanut butter pillow cookies twice now. The first time everything was a bit runny and sticky, and the cookies ended up kinda flat with a peanutty layer in the middle. The second time the dough was less sticky, but the cookies ended up HUGE (my fault, got carried away). My OH said he actually preferred the first batch. I liked both of them, but all the chocolate and sugar made me a bit loopy.
Will soon try something else from the book, and will let you know how I get on.
I received this for Christmas, and so far have only made the choc chip cookies, and the banana 'everything' cookies. Both were amazing and I got lots of compliments - hopefully this won't compromise the New Year healthy eating drive!
"I am not mystical: it isn’t as if I thought it had a spirit. It is simply in its element. That gives it a kingliness, a right." [Sylvia Plath]
I made loads of cookies from here for Christmas presents for family and work - basically, I used the always-perfect Chocolate Chip cookie recipe, then just made a load of variations using the same recipe: chocolate, ginger and macadamia; cashew, orange and cardamom; raisin and oatmeal; chocolate and cherry... all woolfed down by the rellies.
smallhelen.... i've made the choc peanut butter pillow cookies multiple times now and they have always turned out great and fluffy! The choc dough should be kind of moist but still really firm when you make it. They looked just like little pillows when they came out of the oven. hmm, i wonder what went wrong w yours.
anyways, i really want to try the magic bars in the book!
"Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each."
xwitchymagicx, you can always substitute regular unsweetened cocoa for black cocoa and it will still taste great...ur cookies will just turn out lighter. not sure about cocnut extract but for brown rice syrup, I've used these and they've turned out wonderful :maple syrup (substitute 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons liquid for each cup of brown rice syrup) OR molasses (substitute 1/2 cup for each cup of brown rice syrup) OR barley malt syrup (substitute 3/4 cup for each cup of brown rice syrup
hope that helps!
"Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each."
I bought this book recently. I had a $10 coupon. It looks wonderful and there are so many recipes I want to try. I had thought I read somewhere there was supposed to be a recipe in there for a keebler fudge shortbread but I didnt' see it. The closest thing was the girl scout coconut one.
Veganwitch, there is that one for milanos which are kind of like keebler fudge. I made them and they came out huge and too thick and hard to bite into though. If I make them again I would make double the amount of cookies that the dough is suposed to make so that they are thinner.
Blackstrap ginger snaps- Yum. Eat the first day though or else they loose their snap and get chewy- I think she's says that though.
Pignoli almond cookies- My personal favorite from this book so far. Next time I'm going to toast the almonds briefly in a pan first.
Chocolate chip cookies- I thought they were good. They come out a very light color though.
Chocolate botton macaroons- came out a little dry. Best the first day.
(I forget what they were called) Peanut/apple/pretzel drop cookies- don't look yummy, but are. Next time I'll probably use a little less pretzels and peanuts
Linzer Cookies- really, really good. perfect recipe.
Pumpkin cookies- eh, okay. I think my expectations were too high. They had a very weak pumpkin flavor, but looked cute!
Sweet choclate pretzel shaped cookies- good, stored well, and was nice dunked in milk. Putting the coarse grained sugar on top makes them look like like rye pretzels or something because the sugar looks like salt.
Pb pillows- yup, awesome. Definitely best when warm.
Black & whites- sooo good. In my opinion tasted better the second day after the icing got hard. But on the other hand the cookies are little little cakes and I am guilty of eating a couple right out the the oven, no frosting at all. I bet sandwiching some tofutti cream cheese and fresh berries in the middle of two of the un-iced cookies would be spectacular.
xwitchymagicx, you can always substitute regular unsweetened cocoa for black cocoa and it will still taste great...ur cookies will just turn out lighter. not sure about cocnut extract but for brown rice syrup, I've used these and they've turned out wonderful :maple syrup (substitute 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons liquid for each cup of brown rice syrup) OR molasses (substitute 1/2 cup for each cup of brown rice syrup) OR barley malt syrup (substitute 3/4 cup for each cup of brown rice syrup
hope that helps!
Thanks!
"It's not that people suddenly start breeding like rabbits; it's just that people stopped dropping like flies" - population explosion
Wow, timberly...I'm impressed w/ all the cookies you've made. Milanos were my favorite cookie. I must try those. Thanks for the dough tip. I also want to try the pretzel ones which is kind of funny b/c I don't like pretzels, but those cookies just sound so good. Also the pnb pillows sound too good to be true.
I have this book but some ingredients I've never seen...dark cocoa, coconut extract, brown rice syrup etc. I guess it is an American book though!
I'm also struggling to find the brown rice syrup in the UK, and my boyfriend is especially disappointed after seeing the picture of the pecan cookies in the book :/
Any ideas, anyone? Is there something I can use as a substitute? I don't think it's mentioned in the substitutes section of the book
"I am not mystical: it isn’t as if I thought it had a spirit. It is simply in its element. That gives it a kingliness, a right." [Sylvia Plath]
I make too many sweets for my own good. I just love to cook.
fooldramaqueen
I'm also struggling to find the brown rice syrup in the UK, and my boyfriend is especially disappointed after seeing the picture of the pecan cookies in the book :/
Any ideas, anyone? Is there something I can use as a substitute? I don't think it's mentioned in the substitutes section of the book
Hmm, good question. I got this from http://www.foodsubs.com/Syrups.html and it sounds like it might work depending on what ones you have on hand or are willing to buy.
Substitutes: maple syrup (substitute 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons liquid for each cup of brown rice syrup) OR molasses (substitute 1/2 cup for each cup of brown rice syrup) OR barley malt syrup (substitute 3/4 cup for each cup of brown rice syrup)
I think you're looking to make the caramel pecan bars and the brown rice syrup is just in the topping so that would give you more leniency with the texture. To substitute brown rice syrup I would try a combination of maple syrup and barley malt syrup, or even maple syrup and corn syrup, probably about half and half. Brown rice syrup is very thick so the corn and maple syrup would probably be closest in consistency.
Haha, I may have went overboard with that response hope it helps!
So I made the banana oatmeal cookies and substituted Sweet Freedom (you know, the liquid fruit sugar sweetner) for brown rice syrup - but they turned out not nearly sweet enough. I think next time I'd brobably go for 1/4 c agave, 1/4 c maple syrup and 1/4 golden syrup - actually, next time, I think I'd just sub sugar. But then again, there are so many fab recipes to try in the book, and these were disappointing to me, so I probably wouldn't make them again in a rush.
The peanut oatmeal cookies, on the other hand, were outrageously good.
Hmm, good question. I got this from http://www.foodsubs.com/Syrups.html and it sounds like it might work depending on what ones you have on hand or are willing to buy.
Substitutes: maple syrup (substitute 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons liquid for each cup of brown rice syrup) OR molasses (substitute 1/2 cup for each cup of brown rice syrup) OR barley malt syrup (substitute 3/4 cup for each cup of brown rice syrup)
.......
Haha, I may have went overboard with that response hope it helps!
Not at all, thank you! I have molasses so this is good news
"I am not mystical: it isn’t as if I thought it had a spirit. It is simply in its element. That gives it a kingliness, a right." [Sylvia Plath]
You should be able to get rice syrup in the uk - Goodness direct have it, and a lot of wholefood shops get stock from them so you may be able to request they get some in for you if you have an indie wholefood shop nearby, or buy online if not.
"If you don't have a song to sing you're okay, you know how to get along humming" Waltz (better than fine) - Fiona Apple
I got the book last year but so far all I have made are the Citrus Glitters, they were really nice too and I made them gf. I really want to make the pecan bars.
Someone suggest a relatively simple recipe for me to try first. By simple I mean not 123456432345675432 ingredients. Still not found any brown rice syrup.
"It's not that people suddenly start breeding like rabbits; it's just that people stopped dropping like flies" - population explosion
PB Chocolate Pillows (I've made these about 10 times - By far my favorite and always a crowd-pleaser!)
Chocolaty Crinkle Cookies
Peanut Butter Blondies
Roll-N-Cut Sugar Cookies
Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies
I like this cookie book because the ingredients are easily found in most grocery stores - not too many specialty items which makes it a good book to lend to non-vegan friends and family to show them how easy it is to veganize baked goods!
I like that about it too Terra...except Brown Rice Syrup all the ingredients are found here (UK)...I remember my first vegan recipe book had the most awful ingredients which nearly put me off...def a good book for new vegans I think.
"It's not that people suddenly start breeding like rabbits; it's just that people stopped dropping like flies" - population explosion
I could have been imagining it, but I think I saw some rice syrup in Sainsbury's today. It was with the oriental food in the 'gourmet' section.I'll check next time I'm there.
Could you get it via the magic internet?
Has anyone else made the Tahini and Lime Cookies yet? I had a mad moment, and all the ingredients, and whipped up a batch. I loved them, OH not so keen (doesn't really like lime that much). So I took some when I met up with friends, and the general opinion was that they were a bit strange - one of my friends said they reminded her of stirfry (?).
Not sure which ones to make next?
Can also recommend the Cherry and Almond ones, especially if you can get hold of Almond Essence - it adds a really tasty kick!
I made the Agave Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies yesterday. I also made them gfree by using about 1C of brown rice flour & a 1/4C of both potato and tapioca flours. They are cakey, orangey and delicious.
I have made two recipes so far: the chocolate chip cookies, and the espresso fudge brownies. The cookies tasted really good, but the instruction to turn them off the baking sheet and onto a wire rack five minutes after taking them out of the oven was a BAD idea. They really didn't want to budge. A couple fell apart as I tried to tease them off the baking sheet, and I ended up ruining my baking tray by trying to get some of them off using a spatula knife (a plastic spatula didn't work). I did grease the tray as instructed; I might try using baking parchment next time. But once they did come off, they tasted good and my brother in particular really liked them.
The espresso fudge brownies also tasted very good, but were rather crumbly. I might tweak the recipe next time to get them to hold together a bit better. Still, yummy. Will definitely be trying some more recipes. I have decided to have a "cake Friday" each week where I try out a recipe and share with friends. (I bought "My Sweet Vegan" at the same time and shall enjoy both books in tandem!)
New Isa Chandra Moskowitz book! Cookies!
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ooh, just saw cranberry white chocolate biscotti. gotta try that soon 
Sluggie
I guess it is an American book though!
hope it helps!
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